Would you like to play a game? The “Saw” franchise is back when its latest installment and John Kramer (Tobin Bell) aka Jigsaw is back too.
Set in between the events of the original “Saw” film (released back in 2004) and “Saw II” (which opened the following year), this new movie follows Kramer as “a sick and desperate John travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer – only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable. Armed with a newfound purpose, the infamous serial killer returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way through devious, deranged, and ingenious traps” (according to the official synopsis). What more could you possibly want out of a “Saw” film?
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“Saw X” was directed by Kevin Greutert, a veteran of the franchise who previously directed 2009’s “Saw VI” and 2010’s “Saw 3D,” and was written by the team of Josh Stolberg & Peter Goldfinger, newer members of the “Saw” family who also wrote 2017’s “Jigsaw” and 2021’s “Spiral,” a pseudo-spin-off cop movie set within the larger “Saw” universe. It was produced by Oren Koules and Mark Burg, who have been with the franchise since the beginning.
From 2004 to 2010 there was a new “Saw” movie out every Halloween and the franchise has grossed more than $1 billion so far. Originally conceived by screenwriter Leigh Whannell and directed by James Wan (the original “Saw” was his very first feature), it follows a madman (played by Bell) who devises ingenious traps that cause his victims to make brutal moral choices.
As the franchise continued it established and then embellished its own tangled lore, with a number of characters and set pieces that have carried over between films (seriously, look up the chronology of the events of these movies). The fact that “Saw X” takes place between the first and second movies is really fun and is totally in keeping with the world the series has established.
“Saw X” hits theaters on September 29.
